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Coral Mortality Associated with Dinoflagellate Blooms in the Eastern Pacific (Costa Rica and Panama)

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Coral Mortality Associated with Dinoflagellate Blooms in the Eastern Pacific (Costa Rica and Panama) MARINE ECOLOGY PROGRESS SERIES Vol. 60: 299303. 1990 Published February 22 Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. NOTE Coral mortality associated with dinoflagellate blooms in the eastern Pacific (Costa Rica and Panama) Hector M. ~uzman',Jorge cortes2,*,Peter W. ~lynn~,Robert H. ~ichmond~ ' Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (Panama). APO Miami, Florida 34002-001 1, USA * Division oi Biology and Living Resources, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Almospheric Science, Universily of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, Florida 33149-1098, USA Marine Laboratory. University of Cuam, UOG Station, Mangilao, Guam 96923, USA ABSTRACT: Coral reefs at Cano Island, Costa hca, and Uva tions, oxygen depletion, and hydrogen sulfide poison- Island. Panama, were affected during severe dinoflagellate ing rather than by toxins of Ptychodiscus brevis (Davis) blooms in 1985. In the second half of 1985. mass mortality of that were present during the event. reef fishes and invertebrates, especially reef corals, occurred during blooms of the dinoflagellates Cochlodinium catenatum In this note we present observations of coral death and Gonyaulax monilata. At Cano Island, up to 100% coral associated with dinoflagellate blooms in the eastern mortality was observed between the surface and 3 m depth, Pacific - at Cano Island, Costa Rica and Uva Island, with pocilloporid species and Tubastrea coccinea most Panama - and discuss possible mechanisms that may severely affected. At Uva Island, only 13 % pocilloporid mor- tality occurred and this was confined to the shallowest reef have resulted in coral death. areas ('-3 m). The copious amounts of mucus associated with Study site and methods. Cano Island (8"43'N, C. catenatum, present in the water column to 1-3 m depth, 83"52'W) is situated in the southern region of the and adhering to coral colonies, suggested that coral death was Pacific coast of Costa hca, ca 15 km offshore (Fig. 1). caused by smothering. Other conditions that may have Information on the coral community structure and affected reef organisms were the presence of toxlc G. monilata, and possible oxygen depletion due to the hlgh climatic and oceanographic conditions is available in densities of phytoplankton and the decomposition of dead Guzman & Cortes (1989a, b). The percentage of dead organisms. These dinoflagellate blooms have interfered with colonies of all coral species encountered at Cano Island recovery of reefs disturbed dur~ngthe 1982/83 El Nino warm- in July 1985 was recorded. Eight permanent plots of ing event. 10 m2 each at 4 localities from 0.5 to 12 m depth that have been surveyed since January 1984 (for an assess- There are only 2 reports of coral death associated ment of coral recovery after the 1982/83 El Niiio event) with phytoplankton blooms. Baas-Becking (1951) were mapped in January 1985 before the dinoflagellate reported on the death of corals in the shallow waters of bloom and in late August 1985 near the end of the New Caledonia, and attributed this to the putrefaction bloom. Water around the reefs was collected using 11 of thick masses of Trichodesmium thiebautii causing a bottles in July 1985 and the species composition and marked reduction in dissolved oxygen. Smith (1975) relative abundances of the phytoplankters were deter- commented on the impact of a 1971 'red tide' on reef mined using a Palmer-Maloney chamber (Steidinger coral communities off the west coast of Florida, USA, 1979). with near-complete mortality of shallow-water (<40 m) Uva Island reef (7"49'N, 81°46' W) is located about biotas over extensive areas. Smith hypothesized these 40 km offshore in the Gulf of Chiriqui, Panama, with mortalities were caused by bacterial and fungal infec- similar climatic conditions to those at Cano Island. Detailed information on the oceanographic conditions ' Permanent address: Centro de Investigacion en Ciencias and coral community structure are available in Dana del Mar y Limnologia (CIMAR),Universidad de Costa Rica, (1975) and Glynn (1976).The same scleractinian corals San Pedro, Costa Rica occur in both study areas; however, at Uva Island the O Inter-Research/Printed in F. R. Germany 22 2 2 S'n g2 S g d. $2 2 3 i? L $9 2 : 0 %v, 0- 23 2 m 3 v, h 2. cm 8. S tl D 'P m % 3 5 m, 2 $ V,Y m %m zm n z m z "z " g gS? S?- EC mP 7 j. CY +A P P P 0-W N N- WL~L-WCn N~C~OWNNC~- I I II l 3 F +m m+ 'P -2 0 d3LL.L 2odsLdsi.L L m 0 Cn Er m z X P +NW + - +-4ww-s $2 4-UI cn U3W W- 4WwW wCnmr4mUIUI 5'5 g 2. 2 )-L ru Cn W 0 W wwwo 00UI 0 0000 00WO oowr+c.o,o g8 P G117n?anet al.. Coral mortal~ty 301 relative abundance of pocilloporid corals is higher than (0.5 to 3 m depth), while the massive corals remained at Cano Island. Ten permanent chain transects, unchanged (Table 2). The deeper stations (6 to 12 m between 3 and 6 m depth, were sampled at Uva Island depth) showed no significant change in live coral cover 3 mo before and 2 ino after the dinoflagellate bloom. between January and August 1985 (Table 2). The chain ti-ansects were 10 m long with 73 sampling The Uva Island dinoflagellate bloom was observed in points (links) m-' and the distance covered by each October and November 1985. It had a red-brown color species was recorded (Glynn 1984).The dinoflagellates and probably lasted several days Numerous pocillo- at Uva Island were not identified to species. porid corals at 1 to 2 m depth had bleached and were Results. A severe dinoflagellate bloom, or succession sloughing tissues. The CO-occurrenceof viscous foam of blooms, occurred around Cano Island from 3 June to and dinoflagellates suggested that the former was pro- 12 July 1985, with additional pulses through October duced by the latter. The viscous foam near the surface (park rangers daily report, Cano Island Biological oscillated vertically with the tides over shallow-water Reserve). Surface waters, from 2 to 3 m depth, were corals, which were most affected. Transect sampling red-yellow with viscous foam presumably produced by 3 mo before the dinoflagellate bloom and 2 mo after the dinoflagellates. A surface water sample collected at indicated minor coral mortality in the shallowest trans- Cano Island in July 1985 contained 8.3 X 10' live ects (3 m). In 4 transects at 3 m depth, cover of live phytoplankton cells 1-' and more than 3 X 106 cells I-' Pocillopora spp. was reduced by 12.8 O/O (Table 3), but including dead cells. The relative abundances by cell the decline was not statistically significant. The number were: Cochlodinium catenatum Okamura increases in coral cover in the deeper transects (97.0%), Gonyaulax monilata Howell (1.4 %), diatoms (Table 3, Transects 5 to 8) were due to fragmentation (1.2 %) and other dinoflagellates (0.4 %). Numerous and the spread of live branches into the sampling area. fish were affected, with hundreds of scarids, balistids, Reductions also resulted from coral fragmentation and acanthurids, pomacentrids and tetraodontids found the transport of pocilloporid corals away from a transect dead on the beach, as well as dead hermit crabs, (Table 3, Transect 9) and the burial of massive corals brachyuran crabs and gastropods. Some shallow water by dead pocilloporid branches (Table 3, Transect 10). corals were also affected (Table l),especially Pocillo- Discussion. The 1985 dinoflagellate bloom was the pora elegans Dana, P. damicornis (Linnaeus) and the most severe reported off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica azooxanthellate coral Tubastrea coccinea Lesson. The during the last 15 yr (R. Viquez pers. comm. 1988). presence of live obligate crustacean symbiotes in some Intense upwellings were experienced that year in the dead pocilloporid corals indicated recent mortality. A Gulf of Panama, which were related to anti-El Nino significant inverse relation was found between the type activity (Glynn 1989).These conditions could have number of dead colonies and depth (tau = -0.923, p caused a general shoaling of the nutricline in non- < 0 03, n = 20, Kendall rank correlation). No recently upwelling areas, ultimately leading to the dinoflagel- dead or partially dead corals were observed in deeper late bloom observed in 1985. waters (210 m). In previous years at the Gulf of Nicoya, less than Between January and August 1985, the percentage 100 km northwest of Cano Island, blooms were also cover of live pocillopond corals in the permanent plots dominated by Cochlodinlum catenatum, according to at Cano Island decreased to zero at the shallow stations Hargraves & Viquez (1981, 1985). This species has not Table 2 Percent live hermatypic coral cover hefore and after a d~noflagellatebloom In 10 m2 plots, Cano Island, Costa Rica. Pocilloporid corals were Pocillopora elegans and Poallopora damicornis; other corals were Pavona varians, Pavona gigantea, Pavona clavus, Psammocora stellata, Gardlneroseris planulata and Porites lobata Plot Depth 19 January 1985 29 August 1985 no (m) Pocillopond corals All corals Pocilloporid corals All corals 1 0.5-1 24.19 27.00 0 3.35 2 0.5-1 30.19 30.81 0 173 3 2-3 34.60 37.50 0 2.61 4 2-3 36.90 40 40 0 3.39 5 6 0 30.40 0 27 47 6 6 0 31.57 0 27.50 7 10-12 5.13 25.48 4.25" 23 35 8 10-12 5.31 20.16 4.91a 16 54 " Reduction due to predation by Acanthaster plancl 302 Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 60: 299-303. 1990 Table 3.
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